Unblemished white teeth have long been considered cosmetically desirable. Unfortunately, in the absence of thorough dental cleaning, teeth can become discolored or stained from color-causing substances present in food, beverages, tobacco, and the like, and internal sources such as blood, amalgam-based fillings, and antibiotics (e.g., tetracycline).
The tooth structures that are generally responsible for presenting a stained appearance are enamel, dentin, and the acquired pellicle. Tooth enamel is predominately formed from inorganic material, mostly in the form of hydroxyapatite crystals, and further contain approximately 5% organic material primarily in the form of collagen. In contrast, dentin is composed of about 20% protein including collagen, the balance existing of inorganic material, predominately hydroxyapatite crystals, similar to that found in enamel. The acquired pellicle is a proteinaceous layer present on the surface of tooth enamel which reforms rapidly after an intensive tooth cleaning.
Discoloration of teeth can result from extrinsic and/or intrinsic staining. Extrinsic staining of the acquired pellicle can arise as a result of compounds, such as tannins and other polyphenolic compounds, that have become trapped in and tightly bound to the proteinaceous layer on the surface of the teeth. Discoloration from this type of staining can usually be removed by mechanical methods of tooth cleaning. In contrast, intrinsic staining occurs when the staining compounds penetrate the enamel and even the dentin, or alternatively, such staining arises from sources within the tooth. Discoloration from intrinsic staining is not readily amenable to mechanical methods of tooth cleaning. Chemical methods, which utilize substances that can penetrate into the tooth structure, are usually required to eliminate such discoloration.
Currently, there are a number of methods for removing stains in teeth. These methods are generally based on the use of abrasives, hydrolytic agents or oxidizing agents to break down the staining material. For example, mechanical methods of tooth cleaning are known whereby the stain is mechanically abraded through the use of abrasives or polishing agents normally employed in toothpaste preparations. Typical preparations containing abrasives are toothpastes, gels or powder dentifrices, which require close contact with the teeth. Brushing and similar scrubbing or polishing action is typically required as a compliment to successful stain removal. Typical abrasives include hydrated silica, calcium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate and alumina.
Hydrolytic agents including proteolytic enzymes can also be used to whiten teeth. These products are usually in the form of pastes or gels, and function to whiten teeth by removing the plaque and calculus that have been entrapped the stain.
Oxidizing agents such as urea peroxide, hydrogen peroxide or calcium peroxide, represent the most common forms of whitening agents for tooth enamels. It is believed that peroxides whiten teeth by releasing hydroxyl radicals capable of breaking down the plaque/stain complex into a form that can be flushed away or removed by an abrasive.
Other active stain-removing components include surface-active agents, such as anionic surfactants and chelators, which have been incorporated into stain-removing compositions because of their stain-removing properties. For example, anionic surfactants typically employed in dentifrice compositions include sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium N-lauryl sarcosinate. Furthermore, chelators, such as polyphosphates, are typically employed in dentifrice compositions as tartar control ingredients. For example, tetrasodium pyrophosphate and sodium tri-polyphosphate are typical ingredients found in such compositions.
Unlike toothpaste, mouthwash and other dentifrice compositions, gum compositions present unique problems in delivering agents. Chewing gum compositions typically comprise a water-insoluble gum base which provides the bulk to the gum composition, but which invariably traps agents having compatibility with the gum base. Adding additional amounts of an agent is problematical because the same can have an adverse affect on the integrity, sensory and/or taste properties of the gum composition.
Stain-removing gum compositions are known. For example, gum compositions including sodium tripolyphosphate and xylitol are known. Also, gum compositions are known, which include hexametaphosphate and an abrasive silica material. Moreover, a dental gum is known, which includes the following ingredients: sodium tripolyphosphate, tetrasodium pyrophosphate, a silica abrasive and zinc acetate. A whitening gum composition is also known, which includes the abrasives sodium bicarbonate and calcium carbonate, and is sold under the brand name V6®.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,920 to Rice discloses a dentifrice composition that may be used in the form of a gum. The dentifrice composition includes a silica abrasive, a chelating agent (disclosed as including a pyrophosphate salt) and a surfactant. The surfactant is disclosed as preferably being selected from sarcosinate surfactants, isethionate surfactants and taurate surfactants. Exemplified surfactants are sodium lauryl sarcosinate and sodium lauryl sulfate.
Stain-removing gum compositions are known including anionic surfactants such as fatty acid salts (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,471,945, 6,479,071 and 6,696,044). For example, sodium stearate is a fatty acid salt employed in a gum product sold under the brand name Trident White®). Sodium stearate is a surfactant containing both hydrophilic and lipophilic groups. This fatty acid salt is known to solubilize stains into saliva and to loosen the stain so that they can be easily removed by brushing or salvia. It is also known to enter and break up the continuous plaque matrix, and to prevent stain build-up by interfering with the calcium bridge formation between plaque and food product. Encapsulating sodium stearate in sugar alcohols, and only loosely containing sodium stearate within the gum composition, can facilitate its release from the gum base.
As described above, chelators and surfactants have been incorporated into gum compositions because of their good stain-removing properties. However, excess amounts of surfactants can produce an undesirable soapy taste. Moreover, chelators can also have a negative effect on taste (e.g., salty, bitter, and metallic) if added in excess amounts.
In view of the foregoing, it would be beneficial to provide further oral compositions, such as gum compositions for removing stains from teeth. In particular, it would be advantageous to provide gum compositions which include a stain-removing agent that can be effectively released from a variety of gum bases, has high solubility in saliva, avoids interaction with gum ingredients (e.g., lecithin), avoids chemical changes in acidic gums, and leaves a stain-preventing film on teeth. It would be of further benefit to provide an oral composition including a combination of stain-removing agents that improves stain removal activity over the activity of the individual stain-removing agents alone and enables reduction of the amount of each of the stain-removing agents in the composition, avoiding unpleasant tastes and mouthfeel.